Semiconductor devices are fabricated by forming active devices on or within a semiconductor wafer. Hundreds or thousands of integrated circuits or die are typically manufactured on a single wafer. Typically, a plurality of insulating, conductive, and semiconductive material layers are sequentially deposited and patterned over the wafer to form the integrated circuits. One of the uppermost-formed material layers typically comprises a layer for bond pads which make electrical connection to the underlying active areas and components within the wafer.
After the integrated circuits are formed, the wafer is subjected to backside processing. The backside processing may include thinning the wafer to prepare the wafer for packaging. For example, in some technologies, backside processing may include forming electrical connections to through-substrate vias formed through the wafer for providing backside contacts. In this example, the backside of the wafer is thinned through a process such as grinding in order to expose the conductive vias on the backside of the wafer. This process of thinning the wafer can damage the edges of the wafer and can make the wafer even more fragile and susceptible to damage during subsequent transportation and processing of the wafer.
To help alleviate these types of damage, a carrier substrate is normally attached to the wafer. This carrier substrate is attached using an adhesive, and is intended to allow handling of the wafer by handling the carrier substrate. Additionally, the added strength of the carrier substrate supports the wafer so that stresses caused by transportation and/or processing will not damage the wafer.
A typical carrier substrate consists of a glass substrate attached to the wafer using an adhesive. It has been found, however, that the wafer may warp during processing and that the typical carrier substrate does not provide sufficient support to prevent warping. As a result of the warpage of the wafer, processes may fail and/or cause alarm conditions.